Noether–Lefschetz theorem ($\mathrm{Pic}(X)=\mathbb{Z}[{\mathcal{O}}_X(1)]$)

A very general smooth degree-$d$ surface $X\subset {\mathbb{P}}_{\mathbb{C}}^3$ with $d\ge 4$ has Picard group generated by its hyperplane class. The exceptional surfaces lie in a countable union of proper closed loci. A proof is given by Griffiths and Harris, "On the Noether-Lefschetz Theorem".

The Noether–Lefschetz theorem makes any curve class a positive multiple of the hyperplane class, with positive self-intersection. But the smooth rational-curve self-intersection on a projective hypersurface formula makes every smooth rational curve have self-intersection at most $-2$ when the surface degree is at least four. Thus none exists. The smoothness condition is essential; this does not prohibit singular curves whose normalizations are rational.